Great Offensive

{{Short description|Turkish offensive during the Turkish War of Independence}}

{{For|the World War I offensive|Grand Offensive}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = Great Offensive

| partof = the Greco-Turkish War (1919–22) of the Turkish War of Independence

| image = Büyük_Taarruz_kolaj.jpg

| image_size = 350

| caption = From the top left: Turkish artillery units, the forward operation of a Turkish cavalry unit during the Battle of Dumlupınar, the last Turkish soldiers to join the attack being sent off from Ulus Square with ceremonies and prayers, Turkish infantry units wait in the trenches for the attack, Greek soldiers on backward way.

| date = 26 August – 18 September 1922

| place = Western Anatolia (Afyon, Kütahya, Uşak, İzmir)

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| territory = * Turkish capture of Smyrna

• Greek Army withdrawal from Western Anatolia

| result = Turkish victory

• Armistice of Mudanya
• End of the Turkish War of Independence

| status =

| combatant1 = {{flagicon image|Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg}} Ankara Government

| combatant2 = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} Greece

| commander1 = {{flagicon image|Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg}} Mustafa Kemal Pasha
{{flagicon image|Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg}} Fevzi Pasha
{{flagicon image|Ottoman_flag_alternative_2.svg}} İsmet Pasha

| commander2 = {{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} Georgios Hatzianestis
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} Nikolaos Trikoupis{{POW}}
{{flagicon|Kingdom of Greece|state}} Kimon Digenis{{POW}}

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• 98,670–103,000 infantry
• 5,286 cavalry
• 323 artilleryBelgelerle Türk tarihi dergisi, Editions 28–31, Menteş Kitabevi, 1999, [https://books.google.com/books?id=YVxpAAAAMAAJ&q=%22topu+bulunuyordu.+Bu+rakamlar%C4%B1n%22 page 35] {{in lang|tr}}A. Dural: His Story: Mustafa Kemal and Turkish Revolution, {{ISBN|0595412513}}, iUniverse, 2007, page 93Nizamettin Nazif Tepedelenlioğlu: Bilinmiyen taraflariyle Atutürk, Yeni Çığır Kitabevi, 1959, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ETM6AQAAIAAJ&q=%22piyade%22 page 64] {{in lang|tr}}Assertion of unitary, independent national states in central and southeast europe (1821–1923), Bibliotheca historica romaniae Edition 62, Edited by Viorica Moisuc and Ion Calafeteanu, Section des sciences historiques de l'Académie de la République Populaire Roumaine., 1980, page 340 (footnote 94)}}

| strength2 = {{plainlist|

• 130,000 infantry
• 1,300 cavalry
• 348 artillery}}

| casualties1 = {{plainlist|

• 2,318 killed, 9,360 wounded, 1,697 missing and 101 prisoners
• Total: 13,476Ali Çimen, Göknur Göğebakan: Tarihi Değiştiren Savaşlar, 2. Edition, {{ISBN|9752634869}}, page 321. {{in lang|tr}}}}

| casualties2 = {{plainlist|

By 7 September:

• 35,000 killed and wounded, 15,000 prisoners
• Total: 50,000[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D15F83B5D1A7A93CAA91782D85F468285F9 Armistice sought by Greeks as Turks press near Smyrna], New York Times, published 8 September 1922{{cite book |last1=Clodfelter |first1=Micheal |title=Warfare and armed conflicts : a statistical encyclopedia of casualty and other figures, 1492/2015 |isbn=1476625859 |page=346 |edition=Fourth}}Chronicling America – Historic American Newspapers, [http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85058393/1922-09-07/ed-1/seq-2/;words=GREEKS+Greeks+Greek?date1=08%2F26%2F1922&sort=relevance&rows=20&searchType=advanced&proxdistance=5&date2=09%2F10%2F1922&ortext=greek&proxtext=&phrasetext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=range&page=2&index=2 Turk Cavalry Routs Greeks], The Ogden standard-examiner (Ogden, Utah), 7 September 1922, page 2.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1922/09/08/99066324.pdf Armistice Sought By Greeks As Turks Press] 8 September 1922.}}

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{{Campaignbox Greco-Turkish War}}

The Great Offensive ({{langx|tr|Büyük Taarruz}}) was the largest and final military operation of the Turkish War of Independence, fought between the Turkish Armed Forces loyal to the government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and the Kingdom of Greece, ending the Greco-Turkish War. The offensive began on 26 August 1922 with the Battle of Dumlupınar. The Turks amassed around 98,000 men, the largest number since the beginning of the war, to begin the offensive against the Greek army of approximately 130,000 men.Bruce Clark: Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions That Forged Modern Greece And Turkey, Harvard University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0674023684}}, [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780674023680/page/22 page 22].International Committee of Historical Sciences, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22men+was+partly+annihilated+and+partly+taken%22 page 227]. From 31 August to 9 September, the front moved a distance of {{convert|300|km|mi|abbr=on}} as the Greek troops retreated.International Committee of Historical Sciences. 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22The+units+of+the+Turkish+Army+had+marched+a+distance+of+300+km+in+10%22 page 227]. The Turkish army lacked motorized vehicles; its forces consisted of infantry and cavalry units, and logistical support was provided by a supply system based on ox carts.International Committee of Historical Sciences, 1980, [https://books.google.com/books?id=SJlmAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Turkish+Army+carrying+out+this+operation+lacked+all+kinds+of+motorized+vehicles%3B+its+forces+consisted+of+only+infantry+and%22 page 227].

The Turkish troops reached the sea on 9 September with the capture of İzmir. The operation ended on 18 September 1922 with the capture of Erdek and Biga. The staggering defeat caused great dissent within the Greek army and a general loss of morale, which led to unwillingness to continue fighting. On top of this, numerous Greek divisions had been encircled and destroyed as effective fighting units, which meant that the Greek army had lost its offensive capabilities and was unable to organize a controlled retreat, leading to numerous Greek POWs.